Injury a leading cause of disability for adults

An estimated 166,300 adults aged 15 years and over had disabilities caused by accidents or injuries, with the most common type of injury occurring in the workplace.

These figures are taken from the first release ofinformation from the 2006 Disability Survey, Statistics New Zealand said today.

Accidents or injuries were the most common cause of disability for adults aged 15 to 44 years (31 percentof people with a disability) and adults aged 45 to 64 years (34 percent).

For all people aged 15 years andover, accident and injury was the second largest cause of disability, behind diseases or illness.

More than eight out of 10 people with a disability (539,200 people) were adults living in households. Afurther 14 percent (90,000) were children aged less than 15 years living in households, while 5 percent(31,100) were adults living in residential facilities.

Physical disability was the most prevalent type of disability for adults, affecting 67 percent of adults withdisability, ahead of sensory disability (hearing and/or seeing) (42 percent), and ‘other’ disability (39 percent)such as difficulty speaking, learning, remembering or doing everyday activities.

Among the 10 percent of children aged under 15 years with a disability, 46 percent had special educationneeds, which was the most common type of disability, ahead of chronic conditions or health problems (39percent of children with disability).

More than half of disabled children had a disability caused by a conditionthat existed at birth.

The percentage of people with disability increased with age and 45 percent of adults aged 65 years andover had a disability. One-third of all people with disability were in this age group.

The 2006 Disability Survey is the third survey conducted by Statistics New Zealand to examine disability in New Zealand.

Geoff Bascand

Government Statistician